Calling fossil fuel investments sinful, global interfaith coalition outlines moral standards for climate finance | Earthbeat | National Catholic Reporter

Source: Calling fossil fuel investments sinful, global interfaith coalition outlines moral standards for climate finance | Earthbeat | National Catholic Reporter

…At least 10 groups, including Faith for Climate Network and Laudato Si’ Movement, on Feb. 24 outlined five moral standards for climate finance and requested that all asset managers worldwide adopt and implement them. Among their main targets: BlackRock and Vanguard, two of the largest investment asset managers in the financial world.

As a general guide, the standards ask asset managers to measure their investment activity against the climate change goal in the Paris Agreement to limit average global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Scientists say that exceeding that level will result in climate impacts becoming more destructive and deadly, which faith groups and others have warned will likely be felt first and worst by low-income and marginalized communities.

To meet the 1.5 C target, global greenhouse gas emissions must be halved by 2030 and reach net-zero by midcentury — benchmarks that will require the vast majority of the world’s coal, oil and gas reserves to remain untapped, according to the International Energy Agency.

…The World Council of Churches represents more than 350 churches and 580 million Christians worldwide. Other faith-based organizations backing the moral standards include Green Anglicans, Islamic Society of North America, Hindus for Human Rights, Faith for the Climate Network and the finance-focused Operation Noah. GreenFaith, the multifaith climate network, organized the initiative, as well as several webinars Feb. 24 to promote the effort.

Rev. Abby Mohaupt, a Presbyterian minister based in McKinney, Texas, who is leading the climate finance campaign for GreenFaith, told EarthBeat that moral standards are an effort at “shifting the morality behind investments and in relationship to climate change.”

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Climate finance has been a frequent focus for faith groups, including recent steps like the launch of the Faith Plans initiative and the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility outlining priorities for a just transition. The Catholic Church’s Laudato Si’ Movement has led a yearslong fossil fuel divestment campaign, and the Vatican has endorsed financial steps like divestment and reinvestment in sustainability through its Laudato Si’ Action Platform. Bishops in the Philippines in January called for the local church to reject donations with ties to fossil fuels as part of a full break with the industry.

Overall, faith-based organizations make up roughly one-third of the 1,500 institutions, representing nearly $40 trillion in assets, that have publicly joined the global fossil fuel divestment movement.